Dutch Rvolt essays

Dutch Rvolt essays The Dutch Revolution is a truly complicated aspect of early modern European history. The Netherlands was Spains meal ticket. Spain relied heavily upon the economic power that the Netherlands supplied them with. However, how is it that when the Dutch revolted that the much more powerful Spain could not defeat the cause? Spain was the most powerful state after the Renaissance in Europe. Yet the Dutch were able to successfully revolt against Spain because of Philip IIs poor judgments, decisions, management, and his alienation of the Dutch people. Philips planning was weak and his attention span was short. He released pressure on the Netherlands on a few occasions to divert his attention elsewhere. These diversions gave the Netherlands the hole they were looking for and the ability to take the upper hand on more than a few instances. An additional key aspect to consider while discussing the revolt in the Netherlands is the amount of time it took. The revolt is often referred to as the Eighty Years War. Wars during the early modern Europe always came down to money; whoever had the most money usually was victorious. In the case of the war in the Low Countries, the Dutch economy was prospering while the government of Spain was running the economy into bankruptcy. Although the economies were on two different paths, they were fairly equal for a time and it caused a stalemate for almost eighty years (Wedgwood 67). It all began when Philip Habsburg inherited the Low Countries from his father Charles V in 1555. He alienated his subjects and lost control of his territories by the 1560's. He alienated his Dutch subjects in five different ways: first, he demanded extreme and heavy taxes; secondly, he visited the provinces in 1559 and was to never re-enter the Low Countries; thirdly, he put into power the hated Archbishop Granvelle; fourthly, he started an unpopular program of ecclesiastical reform; and finall...